Thomas & Friends - Tale of the Brave

Earlier this month Leo and I had a rather exciting invitation to visit Thomas Land and have a private screening of the new Thomas the Tank Engine Film, Tale of the Brave. Leo is a huge Thomas fan, and has always thoroughly enjoyed his visits to Thomas Land, so of course our RSVP to come along was a resounding ‘YES’!

We arrived at Thomas Land, based at Drayton Manor with a few minutes to spare, we made our way to the 4D cinema where we were greeted by the lovely team who had thought of absolutely everything. There were cartons of Thomas juice for the children and bottles of water for the grown-ups, not to mention the popcorn that was on hand for the screening.

The Fat Controller was happily going around the group posing for photographs and being his happy self, Leo was so pleased to get to meet him. What I really liked is that having visited Drayton Manor and Thomas Land on a number of occasions, it was nice to see that the man behind the Fat Controller was the same person. He may not of remembered me, but I certainly remembered him!

While we waited for the screening to begin, the children got to have a look at a number of the new toys that have been released to go along with the feature. I have to say that I was really impressed with the latest track master model, and may have already jotted that down onto Leo’s Christmas list.. Not that I want to encourage any more train track entering the house!

By the time we were ushered into the screening, Leo was infatuated with all of the new Thomas toys around him, and ultimately I had to let him borrow two of the trains to take in with him. As soon as we were in the 4D cinema he had forgotten all of the toys, and was far too excited to watch the brand new film. The Fat Controller came out onto the stage and introduced the new movie, and then it began.

As far as Thomas films go, I admittedly just watch them because my 3 year old is train mad, but I thought this latest film was easy to tolerate from a adults perspective and I even found myself secretly enjoying some of the songs *makes mental note to look into the soundtrack*.

Tale of the Brave was released in the UK on Blu Ray and DVD on September 1^st 2014 and follows Thomas and his friends around Sodor in a brand new tale. The story starts with Thomas working in the clay pits when a storm approaches, the rain pours and batters Sodor leaving the clay cliffs very un-stable. As Thomas makes his way through the clay pitts, a flash of lightning reveals what looks to be very large footprints on the slope above him. This sets the scene for Thomas and Percy to be on the lookout for a monster!

Thomas isn’t sure about what he saw in the clay pits, but when Thomas confides his thoughts to Percy, Percy is convinced that there is a monster loose on the island. Percy works himself into such a state that he is even too scared to deliver his mail trucks, every bump and shadow becomes a cause for concern.. and Percy very quickly finds himself getting into trouble.

Thomas and the Tale of the Brave introduces some new characters, Gator become a firm favourite with Leo, and I am sure he will be joining Leo’s growing train collection in the not so distant future. The film has been thoroughly enjoyed by Leo and he had an absolutely fantastic day running all over Thomas Land, it is suffice to say  that he was completely in his element.

The Thomas and Friends Tale of the Brave DVD is on sale now, and is a must watch if you have Thomas fans in your midst.

Disclaimer: We were invited along to Drayton Manor for the screening of Thomas and Friends, Tale of the Brave and provided with a goody bag. All thought and opinions are completely honest and my own.